Woman Arrested For Fatal 2011 Rollover Crash

Magali Padilla, 24, was arrested for aggravated DUI on July 7, 2011, for a rollover crash that killed a passenger in her car in Riverside on Dec. 7, 2011. (Credit: Riverside Police)

RIVERSIDE, Ill. (STMW) — A 24-year-old Cicero woman has been arrested and charged with DUI and reckless homicide in connection to a fatal rollover crash that occurred in west suburban Riverside last December.

On Saturday, Riverside police arrested Magali Padilla, of the 1400 block of 51st Avenue in Cicero on one count of reckless homicide and one count of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol causing a death. The charges stem from a December 7, 2011 rollover crash that took place at Longcommon and Delaplaine roads in Riverside.

In a release Sunday morning, Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said that his department’s investigators have been working this case nonstop since the day of the accident. Investigators reviewed crime scene evidence, hospital records, canvassed the area of the accident several times, worked in conjunction with the Illinois State Police accident reconstruction unit, and viewed countless hours of video surveillance.

The break in the case came when Riverside investigators found a video of Padilla leaving the parking lot of a restaurant in the 3000 block of Harlem Avenue in Berwyn at 11:40 p.m. on December 7, 2011. The accident took place at 11:43 p.m., some eight blocks from the restaurant. Police said that the video clearly showed Padilla driving the vehicle and not her passenger, Cesar Ramirez, 26, of the 2600 block of 75th Street in Woodridge. Ramirez was pronounced dead shortly after, at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Weitzel said, “The persistent follow-up investigation conducted by Riverside investigators certainly played a major role in bringing this case to successful conclusion. It is understandable that the victim’s family had been advocating for a quick resolution to this investigation, however, an arrest only came after months of factual evidence gathering and case preparation.”

Padilla was expected to appear in court for a bond hearing Sunday at the Cook County Courthouse at 26th and California.